BA Athletics Club News Digest 30th January 2017

Events:

Tuesday 31st January - Round-the-Block 5k at Heston Venue at 12:30*

Thursday 2nd February - Dream Mile - Bath Road from 12:45*

Wednesday 15th February - Heartthob Hash - Heston Venue from 18:00*

New members and potential members of all fitness levels and abilities are welcome
at all of these events. The full diary of club featured
events is on the club website at:
http://www.barunner.org.uk/Event Diary.shtml. Last updated 9th January.

Round-the-Block annual 5k road race 12:30 Tuesday 31st January

Don't forget this race tomorrow (if you are reading this on Monday 30th).

Founded in or before 1982 this event is probably the oldest fixture in the BA
calendar. As in past years the race is a single lap course of about 5k, around
the Heston area, shown below. The start will be at 12:30 a short walk from the
changing rooms at Heston Venue (Concorde Centre). Those leaving on the dot of 12
from Waterside or the Engineering Base will have enough time to get to the start
and be back within the lunch (two) hour. Anybody and everybody is welcome
to take part including mixed teams of four. This is a fun event and ALL levels
of runners/joggers are welcomed. Please pass this information on to anyone
else who might be interested. Lifts can be offered from and back to
Waterside and other locations. There is a £1 entry fee which will be
donated to the White Lodge Centre charity.

The Tom Rowley Birthday Woking parkrun Results

Although
most of us don't like the concept of getting older (Gary K Rushmer is perhaps
the exception) there is an inevitability about aging. We would like to
think though that not only will we get to experience a 90th birthday but that on
that day we might still be capable of putting on a pair of shoes. Now to not
only put on a pair of shoes but for them to be running shoes and to negotiate
around the Woking parkrun course on one's 90th birthday is surely hoping for too
much fitness in our later life, but that is exactly what Tom Rowley managed to
do on Saturday. And many of us were there to cheer him on. We weren't the
only ones - there were large number of Woking Ladies (and others) wearing
"There's only one Tom Rowley" T Shirts and facemasks.

In all there was a record 410 finishers at Woking - ten percent more than
their previous record and 100 up on recent field sizes. Here are the
results in age order - so from Tom (first parkrun) down to Gary (on his second).
You'll also note rare parkrun outings by Steve Hillier and the Taylors.

Pos

parkrunner

Time

Age Cat

Age Grade

Gender

Gender Pos

Club

Note

Total Runs

401

Tom ROWLEY

1:00:18

VM90-94

49.50%

M

220

Woking AC

First Timer!

1

398

John COFFEY

0:58:43

VM70-74

31.73%

M

219

British Airways AC

PB stays at 00:24:48

225

288

Kevin HOLLAND

0:31:33

VM65-69

55.26%

M

179

British Airways AC

PB stays at 00:27:57

71

154

Alice BANKS

0:27:07

VW60-64

70.56%

F

36

British Airways AC

First Timer!

72

303

Helen SMITH

0:32:46

VW60-64

59.21%

F

122

British Airways AC

PB stays at 00:29:03

34

370

Steve HILLIER

0:38:56

VM60-64

41.91%

M

208

British Airways AC

First Timer!

3

207

Roderick HOFFMAN

0:28:52

VM55-59

53.70%

M

150

British Airways AC

PB stays at 00:24:28

241

249

Janet CUNNINGHAM

0:30:05

VW55-59

59.39%

F

81

Epsom Allsorts

PB stays at 00:26:55

144

364

Mark TAYLOR

0:38:44

VM55-59

40.36%

M

204

British Airways AC

First Timer!

4

367

Graham TAYLOR

0:38:51

VM55-59

40.24%

M

205

British Airways AC

First Timer!

6

369

Gary RUSHMER

0:38:55

VM55-59

39.49%

M

207

British Airways AC

First Timer!

65

16

Christopher T KELLY

0:20:35

VM50-54

72.23%

M

16

British Airways AC

First Timer!

324

35

Paul WATT

0:21:58

VM50-54

67.68%

M

33

Woking AC

PB stays at 00:21:10

40

79

Ian CUNNINGHAM

0:24:14

VM50-54

62.86%

M

67

British Airways AC

PB stays at 00:22:10

274

328

Janet SMITH

0:34:22

VW50-54

50.00%

F

140

Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC

First Timer!

59

407

Julie BARCLAY

1:00:19

VW50-54

28.88%

F

185

Woking AC

PB stays at 00:21:12

90

368

Gary K RUSHMER

0:38:55

JM10

50.79%

M

206

British Airways AC

First Timer!

2

Also present were:

Barry Walters was also there having volunteered to be a course marshal.
Others in the supporting cast included Anne Coffey, Clara Halket, Joe Nolan, Paul Brandon and, straight from the airport,
Monica Alonso. Paul took many photographs and these are loaded in the
Facebook club group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/636199849751546/).
In this photograph you will note that we have all got mud on our shoes apart
from young Gary (questions will be asked). The Woking course is 90% good tarmac
paths but a 10% muddy section through the woods.

PS That isn't a pint in Graham's hand - he was holding Tom's tea for him!

PPS The reason most of us aren't looking at the camera is that Paul's camera
had a telephoto lens on it and so he had to go back 100 meters to take this
shot...and at our age, at that distance, we couldn't see where he was.

And the last word on this topic has to go to Tom...

Thanks so much to the magnificent BA turn-out who all travelled a 40
mile round trip. A total of 19 including Julie/Paul running for
WAC who came along to help celebrate my 90th birthday. I hope you
had fun and enjoyed your morning as much as I did. I felt so
honoured and humble. I hope Barry Walters who marshalled, Paul
taking photos and those that did not run did not get too cold waiting an
hour for me to dash round.

Sorry I was 6 minutes slower than in Chicago but J. Coffey kept
leaving me, he kept stopping to have a chat. My granddaughter over
from Chicago noticed that Anne Coffey gave me a MARS bar at the finish
as she did at WARR. Both daughter/granddaughter only ran the
first and third laps so no time given although they do have a bar-code.
Gary K Rushmer came along with granddad as my pace pacemaker but got
fed-up walking so left me but only finished 20 minutes before me, he
also ran a PB time of 38.55, good boy.

Many thanks for the cards and prezzies including Monica’s
famous Bread Pudding and Clara’s life saving cuppa also a few
CUDDLES (not from the two Taylors). Unfortunately I could not stay
long afterwards as I was off to Parliament Hill with Julie/Paul and
wanting to catch 11.21 train from Weybridge. Thanks to every one
for making me really honoured. Better than winning the lottery ?????
You contributed to making it a record attendance of 410 and helped me to
become the 90-94 course record holder, at least for a week.

See you all soon, keep running so I can come and watch you.

Small point of interest - today was my 90th and also Julie’s
90th?? My birthday and Julie’s 90th parkrun - coincidence odds
1,000,000 to 1?

"Parlimud Hill" being Julie Barclay’s nickname for this magnificent XC
course. A tough two lap 5mile course with the start being at the foot of ½
mile ascent that is considered the vital section, IF run up too quick you will
surely pay latter.

Julie was pleased with today’s run, not only feeling more confident than her
first attempt last year and maybe help her run a PB time with 41.04 to last
year's 43.15 and today finished 320th of 574.

Tom Rowley

BA Athletics Club Survey - Results (part 2)

Membership:

What do members value from the club?

Different people value different things though it is clear that being
part of a running community is very important with nearly 50% of you
rating it as high value.

Having actual running companions is valuable but not as important -
reflecting perhaps our disparate geography, second claim running clubs
and parkrun options.

Many people rate "International Events" as high value. We
usually get a large turnout for the WARR International Event but other
events such as ASCA don't attract so many - something for the committee
to mull over.

Things are important even at the "bottom" of this list - nearly 20%
say that the Heston Venue facilities are of high value and only 40% say they are not of value (and remember that 45%
of us are based more than ten miles away).

For new members word of mouth from "a running colleague" is critical
with nearly 75% quoting this. Most quoted something else as well
though most of these are events rather than publicity material.

Suggestions for Club Change

There are very few negative suggestions - nothing listed appears
unpopular so we are unlikely to consider stopping doing anything.

There is clearly demand for coaching, for more team events such as
relays, and for gym sessions. Up until a couple of years ago we
ran a winter series of gym sessions and they were popular. We
stopped due to availability issues with the gym but perhaps we need to
find a way to reinstate these.

On the coaching topic we probably need to do some more work to find
out what the club can deliver that will meet the requirement - the
suggestions made go across all options. In the past we have
provided Track&Field opportunities but these haven't been well attended.
There already are (informal) lunchtime sessions from Waterside but
clearly most people do not have access to Waterside for lunchtimes.

What happens next? At the next Committee Meeting we will discuss these
results, and the individual suggestions also entered, and start planning some
new initiatives. These won't happen overnight but you should see some
changes over the next few months.

parkrun Records

It wasn't just Woking that had record numbers on Saturday - several
other parkruns did as well although overall UK numbers were slightly
down on the New Year peak. Worldwide parkruns continue to flourish with
participation numbers doubling in the New Year in both Ireland and South
Africa. Bushy had a good 1,125 finishers this week which is a good
number but only enough to make Bushy the ninth largest parkrun on
Saturday behind eight South African parkruns. Top of the pile was
Voortrekker Monument parkrun with a world record 2,092 finishers
recorded. This was a well advertised event - this will be the last
parkrun on that site near Pretoria with a number of alternative parkruns
starting up in the vicinity from next Saturday.

Know
your Hash from your Elbow...

I posted this a couple of weeks ago. The correct answer to the "What
does it indicate?" question was "E] None of the above". It is a sign from
a hash trail, the circle indicates a checkpoint where the course of the trail is
interrupted and will start again somewhere nearby (so "Check it out!").
However the arrow on this checkpoint sign indicates that this is AFTER the hash
has been run - the arrow has been added by the Hare to indicate to runners yet
to reach the checkpoint that the trail has already been re-found and is in the
direction indicated.

After seeing this marker next to the canal near my house I checked out to
find out which Hash had laid it. Research showed that it was the London
Hash House Harriers who are currently running every Saturday from 12:00.
Their next run is in Putney. See
http://www.londonhash.org//a>
for details.